The Dumbest Dungeons & Dragons Monsters Ever (And How To Use Them)

Flumph

First published in: Fiend Folio (1981)

Hey, look! It's an airborne jellyfish. Better still, its eyes are conveniently located on fragile stalks, just waiting to be lobbed off with a casual sword swing. It is said that flumphs are helpless if flipped on their "back" - I can't even imagine what part of this creature is its back, and I think it's fair to assume that a flumph is just helpless all the time. In case that wasn't enough, flumphs are Lawful Good, which just adds further insult, and they are sentient, so they are keenly aware of just how pathetic they are.

How to use it: The only way this creature works is if it is not used as a villain, but rather as some form of quest-giver or ally. Imagine the players need to consult an ancient, reclusive sage of legend, track down his distant hideout, and finally meet him to discover that "he" is actually this bizarre creature. Expectations subverted, and the players may even try to attack the beast on sight, thinking it killed the sage, leading to some... tense roleplaying scenarios thereafter.